News / Egypt

Egypt’s army says 3 soldiers, 30 militants killed in Sinai

Wednesday, 25 April 2018 5:12 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 25 April 2018 5:15 PM ]

The photo, taken on November 28, 2017, from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing following an explosion close to the border on the Egyptian side of the divided city. (Photo by AFP)

Egypt’s army said on Wednesday that three soldiers and 30 Takfiri militants have been killed in the past week in the restive Sinai Peninsula amid an ongoing military campaign against the Daesh terrorist group.

According to official figures, about 200 militants and at least 33 government troops have now been killed since the army launched a major operation dubbed "Sinai 2018" against the militants on February 9.

They included "Nasser Abu Zaqul, the central Sinai commander of the terrorist group,” who was killed after significant exchanges of fire, Egyptian military said last Wednesday.

More than 170 suspected militants have been detained.

Operation Sinai 2018, which involves security forces mobilized from the air force, navy, army and police, aims to tighten control on border districts and “clean up areas where there are terrorist hotbeds,” media reported.

The Sinai Peninsula has been under a state of emergency since October 2014.

Terrorists have been targeting both government forces and civilians with terror attacks, taking advantage of the turmoil in Egypt that erupted after the country’s first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted in a military coup in July 2013.

The Velayat Sinai group, which has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorists, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.

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